New Delhi: Days after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured a clear majority in Bihar Assembly elections 2020, veteran Congress leader Kapil Sibal came down heavily on his party’s workings, saying that people of the country, don’t consider the grand old party to be an ‘effective alternative’ anymore.
In an interview with The Indian Express, Sibal said, “We are yet to hear from the Congress party their views on our recent performance in Bihar and in the by-elections. Maybe they think all is well and that it should be business as usual.”
In the recently concluded Bihar Assembly elections 2020, the Congress managed to win only 19 of the 70 seats it had contested, down from its previous tally of 27 seats out of 41 it had fought in the 2015 Vidhan Sabha polls in the state.
Meanwhile, when Sibal was asked about the “dissent letter” that caused a rift within the party, Sibal said, “Since there has been no dialogue and there seems to be no effort for dialogue by the leadership and since there is no forum to express my views, I am constrained to express them publicly. I am a Congressman and will remain a Congressman and hope and pray that Congress provides the alternative to a power structure which has subverted all the values that the nation stands for.”
Commenting on the party’s downfall since the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the veteran leader said,”If for six years the Congress has not introspected what hope do we have for introspection now? We know what is wrong with Congress. Organisationally, we know what is wrong. I think we have all the answers. The Congress party itself knows all the answers. But they are not willing to recognise those answers.”
He added,”First we have to have a conversation; with experienced minds, experienced hands, with people who understand the political realities of India, people who know what and how to articulate in the media, people who know how to get people to listen to them… We need alliances, we need to reach out to people. We cannot anymore expect people to come to us. We are not the kind of force that we used to be. We need to reach out to others by those who are experienced in this business. But in order to do that, we have to have a conversation.”